Comparison of culture methods for human-human hybridomas secreting anti-HBsAg human monoclonal antibodies

Human-human hybridomas which secrete a human monoclonal antibody (h-MoAb) against hepatitis B virus surface antigen showed growth associated production kinetics. The rate of h-MoAb production rapidly decreased after cell growth was arrested in a perfusion culture, even if the perfusion rate was increased. A continuous suspended-perfusion culture, in which both culture broth and culture supernatant are continuously harvested and the same volume of fresh medium is continuously fed into the reactor, was developed to maintain continuous growing conditions during cultivation. In this culture system, the production of h-MoAb continued for more than 50 days with an average productivity of 5.0 mg/l of working volume/day. A semicontinuous immobilized-perfusion culture in which parts of the cells are repeatedly removed from the immobilized reactor was another useful technique for the long term cultivation of these h-h hybridomas. As an average h-MoAb production rate, 62 mg/l of immobilized-bed volume/day was achieved for 65 days of cultivation using a ceramic matrix reactor, and 327 mg/l/day was achieved over 47 days of cultivation using a hollow fiber reactor equipped with Cultureflo M^TM Thus, the antibody productivity per reactor volume per day by the semicontinuous immobilized-perfusion culture was much higher than that of the continuous perfusion culture in an agitation reactor.     

Cultivated Grapevines Represent a Symptomless Reservoir for the Transmission of Hop Stunt Viroid to Hop Crops: 15 Years of Evolutionary Analysis

Hop stunt was a mysterious disorder that first emerged in the 1940s in commercial hops in Japan. To investigate the origin of this disorder, we infected hops with natural Hop stunt viroid (HpSVd) isolates derived from four host species (hop, grapevine, plum and citrus), which except for hop represent possible sources of the ancestral viroid. These plants were maintained for 15 years, then analyzed the HpSVd variants present. Here we show that the variant originally found in cultivated grapevines gave rise to various combinations of mutations at positions 25, 26, 54, 193, and 281. However, upon prolonged infection, these variants underwent convergent evolution resulting in a limited number of adapted mutants. Some of them showed nucleotide sequences identical to those currently responsible for hop stunt epidemics in commercial hops in Japan, China, and the United States. Therefore, these results indicate that we have successfully reproduced the original process by which a natural HpSVd variant naturally introduced into cultivated hops was able to mutate into the HpSVd variants that are currently present in commercial hops. Furthermore, and importantly, we have identified cultivated grapevines as a symptomless reservoir in which HSVd can evolve and be transmitted to hop crops to cause epidemics.     

Cryopreserved Dental Pulp Tissues of Exfoliated Deciduous Teeth Is a Feasible Stem Cell Resource for Regenerative Medicine

Human exfoliated deciduous teeth have been considered to be a promising source for regenerative therapy because they contain unique postnatal stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED) with self-renewal capacity, multipotency and immunomodulatory function. However preservation technique of deciduous teeth has not been developed. This study aimed to evaluate that cryopreserved dental pulp tissues of human exfoliated deciduous teeth is a retrievable and practical SHED source for cell-based therapy. SHED isolated from the cryopreserved deciduous pulp tissues for over 2 years (25–30 months) (SHED-Cryo) owned similar stem cell properties including clonogenicity, self-renew, stem cell marker expression, multipotency, in vivo tissue regenerative capacity and in vitro immunomodulatory function to SHED isolated from the fresh tissues (SHED-Fresh). To examine the therapeutic efficacy of SHED-Cryo on immune diseases, SHED-Cryo were intravenously transplanted into systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) model MRL/lpr mice. Systemic SHED-Cryo-transplantation improved SLE-like disorders including short lifespan, elevated autoantibody levels and nephritis-like renal dysfunction. SHED-Cryo amended increased interleukin 17-secreting helper T cells in MRL/lpr mice systemically and locally. SHED-Cryo-transplantation was also able to recover osteoporosis bone reduction in long bones of MRL/lpr mice. Furthermore, SHED-Cryo-mediated tissue engineering induced bone regeneration in critical calvarial bone-defect sites of immunocompromised mice. The therapeutic efficacy of SHED-Cryo transplantation on immune and skeletal disorders was similar to that of SHED-Fresh. These data suggest that cryopreservation of dental pulp tissues of deciduous teeth provide a suitable and desirable approach for stem cell-based immune therapy and tissue engineering in regenerative medicine.     

Quantification of Cyprinid Herpesvirus 3 in Environmental Water by Using an External Standard Virus

Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV-3), a lethal DNA virus that spreads in natural lakes and rivers, infects common carp and koi. We established a quantification method for CyHV-3 that includes a viral concentration method and quantitative PCR combined with an external standard virus. Viral concentration methods were compared using the cation-coated filter and ultrafiltration methods. The recovery of virus-like particles was similar for the two methods (cation-coated filter method, 44% ± 19%, n = 3; ultrafiltration method, 50% ± 3%, n = 3); however, the former method was faster and more suitable for routine determinations. The recovery of seeded CyHV-3 based on the cation-coated filter method varied by more than 3 orders of magnitude among the water samples. The recovery yield of CyHV-3 was significantly correlated with that of the seeded λ phage, and the average ratio of λ to the CyHV-3 recovery yield was 1.4, indicating that λ is useful as an external standard virus for determining the recovery yield of CyHV-3. Therefore, to quantify CyHV-3 in environmental water, a known amount of λ was added as an external standard virus to each water sample. Using this method, CyHV-3 DNA was detected in 6 of the 10 (60%) types of environmental water tested; the highest concentration of CyHV-3 DNA was 2 × 10⁵ copies liter⁻¹. The lowest recovery limit of CyHV-3 DNA was 60 copies liter⁻¹. This method is practical for monitoring CyHV-3 abundance in environmental water.Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV-3) is a lethal DNA virus that infects the common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) and koi carp (C. carpio koi). The occurrence of the disease in the United Kingdom has been dated to 1996, following outbreaks in the United States, Israel, Europe, and South Asia (10), and has afflicted cultured ornamental and common carps, causing severe losses to fish breeders, retailers, and hobbyists (28). Therefore, the characterization and diagnosis of the disease have been the subject of intensive research (15). In recent years, the mortality of wild carp has been reported in natural freshwater environments (11, 18, 23). In Lake Biwa in Japan, 60 to 80% of the wild carp population (>100,000) died in 2004, presumably due to CyHV-3 infection (Shiga Prefectural Government, http://www.pref.shiga.jp/g/suisan-s/seika/files/seikah1711.pdf [in Japanese]) (18). The mass mortality of wild carp can directly and indirectly affect community composition and environmental ecosystems (18). Nevertheless, the occurrence of the disease and the means of transmission of CyHV-3 in the natural environment are still not well understood.CyHV-3 is present in several organs of infected fish, such as the intestines, kidneys (7), and gills (29). CyHV-3 is also detected in droppings (3); therefore, infected fish are suspected of releasing CyHV-3 into natural waters. Seasonal variation and the spatial distribution of CyHV-3 may be important for understanding the transmission routes and mechanisms by which CyHV-3 spreads. However, the lack of a reliable method for quantifying CyHV-3 in environmental water precludes our elucidation of how this disease spreads.In general, the concentration of a pathogen in environmental water is considerably lower than that found in host bodies. Therefore, a CyHV-3 concentration method is required to detect and quantify the virus in environmental water. Several methods have been developed for determining concentrations of viruses in water samples. Ultrafiltration can concentrate a pathogen from a large volume of water in <100 liters (27, 35). An alternative method involving the use of electronegative or electropositive microporous adsorbent filters has also been used to concentrate viruses from environmental water (1, 8). The mechanism of concentration in this method is based on electrostatic interactions. Haramoto et al. established a cation-coated filter method in which viruses that had been trapped were eluted with NaOH solution (pH 10.8) instead of the conventional solution, beef extract, which inhibits the PCR (12, 13). The concentrated viruses can then be used for PCR-mediated identification. Using this method, they succeeded in the qualitative detection of CyHV-3 DNA from river water samples (13).Viral recovery during concentration is influenced by soluble organic compounds (33, 34) and salts (31) in the water, which may vary in each sample. Therefore, quantification of the viral DNA from concentrated environmental water samples has been difficult. Because sediments contain many substances that influence DNA recovery, Mumy and Findlay developed a method for the routine determination of DNA extraction efficiency using an external DNA recovery standard, as follows: λ DNA was added to sediments, the total DNA was extracted, and the amount of target DNA recovered was determined by quantitative PCR (22).In this study, we established a method for quantifying CyHV-3 in environmental water using a viral concentration method and TaqMan PCR combined with an external standard virus. To choose a suitable viral concentration method, we compared the viral recovery yields between the ultrafiltration and cation-coated filter methods, and the procedure was modified to increase sensitivity. We then confirmed that the recovery yields of CyHV-3 and the external standard virus λ from different environmental waters throughout the procedure were positively correlated. Finally, we applied this method to environmental water samples taken from Lake Biwa and Takaragaike Pond in Japan at 3 years and 1 month, respectively, after an outbreak of the disease for the detection and quantification of CyHV-3.     

Activity-dependent shedding of heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor in brain neurons

Heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor (HB-EGF) is initially produced as a membrane-anchored precursor (pro-HB-EGF) and subsequently liberated from the cell membrane through ectodomain shedding. Here, we characterized the molecular regulation of pro-HB-EGF shedding in the central nervous system. Cultured neocortical or hippocampal neurons were transfected with the alkaline-phosphatase-tagged pro-HB-EGF gene and stimulated with various neurotransmitters. Both kainate and N-methyl-D-aspartate, but not agonists for metabotropic glutamate receptors, promoted pro-HB-EGF shedding and HB-EGF release, which were attenuated by an exocytosis blocker and metalloproteinase inhibitors. In the brain of transgenic mice over-expressing human pro-HB-EGF, kainate-induced seizure activity decreased content of pro-HB-EGF-like immunoreactivity and conversely increased levels of soluble HB-EGF. There was concomitant phosphorylation of EGF receptors (ErbB1) following seizures, suggesting that seizure activities liberated HB-EGF and activated neighboring ErbB1 receptors. Therefore, we propose that glutamatergic neurotransmission in the central nervous system plays a crucial role in regulating ectodomain shedding of pro-HB-EGF.     

Novel hyaluronic acid–methotrexate conjugates for osteoarthritis treatment

Hyaluronic acid (HA) provides synovial fluid viscoelasticity and has a lubricating effect. Injections of HA preparations into the knee joint are widely used as osteoarthritis therapy. The current HA products reduce pain but do not fully control inflammation. Oral methotrexate (MTX) has anti-inflammatory efficacy but is associated with severe adverse events. Based on the rationale that a conjugation of HA and MTX would combine the efficacy of the two clinically evaluated agents and avoid the risks of MTX alone, we designed HA–MTX conjugates in which the MTX connects with the HA through peptides susceptible to cleavage by lysosomal enzymes. Intra-articular injection of our HA–MTX conjugate (conjugate 4) produced a significant reduction of the knee swelling in antigen-induced arthritis rat, whereas free MTX, HA or a mixture of HA and MTX showed no or marginal effects on the model. The efficacy of conjugate 4 was almost the same as that of MTX oral treatment. Conjugate 4 has potential as a compound for the treatment of osteoarthritis.